What really happened on the bridge when Costa Concordia crashed

Video footage reveals chaos, confusion and a curiously calm captain

Astonishing video footage revealing the turmoil on the bridge of the
doomed Costa Concordia vessel in the crucial hour after it crashed into
rocks near the Italian coast was last night broadcast on the country's
TG5 news show. Shortly after a 50-meter hole was torn in the side the
giant liner, at 9.42 pm on 13 January, after a dangerous manoeuvre close
to the island of Giglio, the video shows the seemingly relaxed, almost
lackadaisical, response of officers on the bridge.

But within half an hour, when the gravity of the situation has sunk
in, and with the ship tilting at a 20-degree angle, the footage suggests
the calm has been replace by panic and disarray among senior crew
members.

Then at 10.25pm a man identified in the video as Captain Francesco
Schettino is seen talking on the phone while senior officers struggle to
understand what is happening, with at least one shouting out: "What do
we do?"

And then, around 25 minutes before the official "abandon ship" signal
is given, one official is heard saying: "Passengers are getting into the
life boats", to which a man believed to be Schettino replies: "Vabbuo",
which means "Whatever".

Last night, Francesco Verusio, the magistrate leading the
investigation into the disaster, said he would urgently seek a copy of
the film - the first to show what happened on the liner before it
partially capsized with the loss of 32 lives. So far 17 bodies have been
recovered and 15 are still missing.

"This is new to us I've just seen it for the first time," said Mr
Verusio last night. "We've heard everything that was happening on the
bridge."

Crucially the video appears to show senior officers calling for the
ship to be abandoned at 10.32pm. Calls of "We're leaving the ship,
abandon ship," are heard. But the official order telling passengers to
evacuate the stricken vessel was not made for another 10 minutes.

Senior Italian coastguard officials have stated that had the ship
been evacuated immediately after hitting the rocks instead of 76 minutes
later, then there would probably have been little or no loss of life.

Last night, Corriere della Sera newspaper speculated that the sounds
of heels near the mystery camera man or woman meant that the married
captain's presumed lover, Domnica Cemortan, 24, may have taken the
video.

She is considered a key witness after it emerged she was on the
bridge when the Concordia hit the rocks, having earlier dined with
Captain Schettino. She has already been grilled by the magistrate for
five hours.

Captain Schettino is currently under house arrest and may be charged
with multiple manslaughter and with abandoning ship before his
passengers. The Independent